Songs Ballads and Stories Author:William Allingham Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: And first there came a bitter laughter; A sound of tears the moment after; And then a music so lofty and gay, That every morning, day by day, I strive to recall ... more »it if I may. IN A SPRING GROVE. T T ERE the white-ra/d anemone is bom, - - Wood-sorrel, and the varnish'd buttercup; And primrose in its purfled green swathed up, Pallid and sweet round every budding thorn, Gray ash, and beech with rusty leaves outworn. Here, too, the darting linnet has her nest In the blue-lustred holly, never shorn, Whose partner cheers her little brooding breast, f Piping from some near bough. O simple song! O cistern deep of that harmonious rillet, And these fair juicy stems that.climb and throng The vernal world, and unexhausted seas Of flowing life, and soul that asks to fill it, Each and all these,—and more, and more, than these! OH! WERE MY LOVE. K ! were my Love a country lass, That I might see her every day, And sit with her on hedgerow grass Beneath a bough of may; And find her cattle when astray, Or help to drive them to the field, And linger on our homeward way, And woo her lips to yield A twilight kiss before we parted, Full of love, yet easy-hearted. Oh ! were my Love a cottage maid, To spin through many a winter night, Where ingle-corner lends its shade From fir-wood blazing bright. Beside her wheel what dear delight To watch the blushes go and come With tender words, that took no fright Beneath the friendly hum; Or rising smile, or tear-drop swelling, At a fire-side legend's telling. Oh ! were my Love a peasant girl, That never saw the wicked town; Was never dight with silk or pearl, But graced a homely gown. How less than weak were fashion's frown To vex our unambitious lot; How rich were lo...« less